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Henry VI part 2
3.30 pm. Saturday 15th August, 2020.
The Taming of the Shrew
18th July, 2020. Time 3.30pm
Two Gentlemen of Verona
Two Gents – 20th June, 2020.
Othello
Othello was our first Shakespeare work.
Titus Andronicus
Our next meeting will be on Saturday May 16th at 3.30. We’ll be discussing Titus Andronicus.
We will be using the same zoom link as last time.
Shall we read it all?
If we want to read all Shakespeare’s works in the order they were written, and be finished by 2022, then one way of doing it is in the list below.
There’s a chance Titus Andronicus was first so I’ve brought it forward.
1 The Two Gentlemen of Verona (1589–1591) May 2020 2 The Taming of the Shrew (1590–1591) May 3 Henry VI, Part 2 (1591) June 4 Henry VI, Part 3 (1591) July 5 Henry VI, Part 1 (1591–1592) July 6 Titus Andronicus (1591–1592) Aug 7 Richard III (1592–1593) Sept 8 Edward III (1592–1593)c 50% by WS Oct 9 The Comedy of Errors (1594) Oct 10 Love's Labour's Lost (1594–1595) Nov 11 Love's Labour's Won (1595–1596) Doesn’t exist 12 Richard II (1595) Nov 13 Romeo and Juliet (1595) Dec 14 A Midsummer Night's Dream (1595) Jan 2021 15 King John (1596) Feb 16 The Merchant of Venice (1596–1597) Feb 17 Henry IV, Part 1 (1596–1597) Mar 18 The Merry Wives of Windsor (1597) Mar 19 Henry IV, Part 2 (1597–1598) Apr 20 Much Ado About Nothing (1598–1599) Apr 21 Henry V (1599) May 22 Julius Caesar (1599) June 23 As You Like It (1599–1600) June 24 Hamlet (1599–1601) July 25 Twelfth Night (1601) Aug 26 Troilus and Cressida (1600–1602) Aug 27 Sir Thomas More (1592–1595; 40% WS? ? 28 Measure for Measure (1603–1604) Sept 29 Othello (1603–1604) Done! 30 All's Well That Ends Well (1604–1605) Sept 31 King Lear (1605–1606) Oct 32 Timon of Athens (1605–1606) Nov 33 Macbeth (1606) Dec 34 Antony and Cleopatra (1606) Jan 2022 35 Pericles, Prince of Tyre (1607–1608) Feb 2022 36 Coriolanus (1608) Feb 37 The Winter's Tale (1609–1611) Mar 38 Cymbeline (1610) Apr 39 The Tempest (1610–1611) May 40 Cardenio (1612–1613) Shakespeare? June 41 Henry VIII (1612–1613) 50% ? June 42 The Two Noble Kinsmen (1613–1614) 50% ? June 2022
What are we all doing?
Our group came together to read the works of Shakespeare. We had the idea before lockdown started. We switched to zoom when the lockdown hit.
We evolved from a previous reading group that read Proust’s monumental Remembrance of Things Past. That group met in person at Highgate Library near Highate tube.
I think we are in a golden age for appreciating Shakespeare. He is available in audio files- there are really great versions of his work on Audible. It’s easy to get TV and movie versions, and to get written versions as ebooks, paper books etc. The Internet also makes it easy to get hold of criticism and scholarly study, and Shakespeare’s own sources.
The Works of Shakespeare 